"Tell me, Eren Elijah Idril. Do you agree with my offer?"
Sedating Gaze!
Eren replied to Nira Nightshade's offer by casting his Ability on her. His eyes turned completely white before various runic markings started appearing in them.
With Eren's rank-up, his ocular Ability also received a huge boost. It could now affect the souls of his opponents on a deeper level.
Nira Nightshade felt like she was back in her past where she had to struggle for everything in the land of Anfang. One by one, she recalled scenes from her past where she had struggled. However, the faces of the people surrounding her had been morphed to look like flesh flowers.
Nira saw the flesh flowers that were people's heads burst into a million pieces just as they got close to her, spreading blood and organs on her body. She soon found herself living her old memories while being covered in the blood of people she knew.
Nira knew that she had been subjected to Eren's Ability. In the illusory world, it altered her perception of time and made her suffer more.
The Sage was aware that what she was seeing was nothing but an illusion. However, she had to admit that Eren had unlocked a very dangerous Ability at such a young age.
She was sure that no ordinary ranker of Eren's generation would stop themselves from falling prey to his Ability's illusions. The butcher didn't even need to kill such people. They might die on their own while being trapped inside the illusory world.
One's Abilities would tell a lot about a person and their disposition.
Nira immediately concluded that Eren was nothing like the Emil she knew from the past. The young man in front of her was not only proficient at politics but also in the business of causing death and destruction in his wake. His unyielding heart as a ranker was beating with thoughts of surpassing any restrictions placed on him.
Eren knew that his Ability wasn't enough to incapacitate Sage's vestige of soul. However, it was enough to put pressure on her. This was especially true since she was maintaining an isolation array.
Nira started hearing Eren's voice as if the sky of her illusory world was talking to her.
"Sage Nira, do you take me for a fool? If God Sparks are as significant as you tell me to be, then whatever you have offered isn't enough."
Nira narrowed her eyes before using her soul sense to break through Eren's ocular Ability. The illusory world crumbled around her like a broken mirror. She found herself back in the hall, staring at the same eyes that had sent her on a long trip.
Nira averted her eyes away from Eren and took a few steps back. For some reason, she didn't feel like looking into Eren's eyes once again just to prove her mettle as a Sage ranker was not to be underestimated. Her subconscious mind decided that some stare-downs weren't meant to be repeated.
"I underestimated you."
Nira said matter-of-factly before flashing a smile.
"Speak. What else do you want?"
Eren's ocular Ability was broken forcefully by Sage's soul sense. As a result, he felt some drawbacks to his consciousness. He ignored the feelings of vertigo and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes, they had returned to their normal state.
"Assistance.
You'll need to help me if I hand over my Spirit Beast to you. As I told you, I plan to leave the land of Anfang. I could really use some guidance and help regarding other worlds. At least the worlds that are easier to travel to from here."
Eren took a long breath after saying what he wanted. He looked at Nia Nightshade with a serene mindset before speaking further.
"We have a deal as long as you can promise me that."
Nira raised her eyebrows at Eren's demand. She felt like what Eren had said made sense. She could also sense that he was speaking the truth.
Nira Nightshade took her time before taking Eren up on his offer.
"Alright. We have a deal."
Eren could enter into a binding contract with a Sage ranker thanks to his recent breakthrough into the Expert rank. However, Nira was just present in the land of Anfang as a vestige of her original soul.
The Sage Ranger couldn't keep someone like Eren bound to the vestige of her soul because of his awakened soul sense. This was why she wanted to establish a cooperative relationship with Eren by providing him with the information he was looking for. She felt glad that her move had worked.
"So where were we?"
Nira Nightshade said before taking her seat in the throne-like chair. She assumed a relaxing position on the chair before resuming her talk on the previous topic from where she had left off.
"Yes… God Vulcan.
He used the sacrificial energy he had collected on the land of Anfang to promote and expedite the Spirit Beasts' growth. His goal was to cultivate as many God Sparks among them as possible.
However… things didn't go according to God Vulcan's plans either."
Nira Nightshade looked at Eren who was staring blankly at her. She could tell that he was not happy with the deal that was forced on him. She chuckled before deciding to wrap up her end of the deal.
"Denizens of otherworlds learned about God Vulcan's plans to harvest a batch of God Sparks. And all hell broke loose on the land of Anfang after that.
The people of this land were subjected to even greater suffering than before because of the God Vulcan. That's because the ones who attacked them didn't care about the rankers' affiliations.
The attackers were otherworlders. They were stronger than anyone the world of Anfang had ever seen. They were brutal and vicious.
These intruders did everything they could to plunder Anfang's resources. They also started looking for fragments of the world's consciousness while they were busy plundering.
As a result of this dreadful threat, the original residents of the Anfang had to forget their differences. They all forgot about their affiliations and came together to form a united front.
This united front was named the Anfang Alliance.
